Political Throwback! In 2001, when DMK Chief Karunanidhi was arrested in the dark of the night

The 94-year-old DMK president passed away on Tuesday after a brief illness, it was the time when Karunanidhi was on the forefront, but there was this one time back in 2001 when Karunanidhi made the news and it was not for all the right reasons.

On June 30, 2001, at 1.45 am Tamil Nadu police knocked the doors of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi’s residence. It was high voltage political drama in Tamil Nadu which was never seen before. Tamil Nadu police allegedly arrested DMK chief in connection with the Rs 12 crore ‘flyover scam’. A video of the incident is still present on internet, and in the video M Karunanidhi was forcefully dragged from his chair and was taken in to custody.

Karunanidhi can be seen screaming in the video, even his nephew Murasoli Maran was manhandled. His son MK Stalin was also arrested. “The police came when I was asleep. We asked them if they had any warrant but they said that in a criminal case no warrant was needed. They behaved very badly with me. They pulled my towel and my shirt and I almost fell down the stairs,” Karunanidhi had said at that time.

The arrest was a so sudden that in the beginning police didn’t disclose the reason why they are taking DMK chief in custody and even they refused to disclose the location where they are taking him. Late Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at that time. The incident had worsened the conflict between AIADMK and DMK.

Cut to 2018. DMK workers and supporters had thronged the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai where the five-time Tamil Nadu CM had been admitted since July 28 and later passed away on August 7.

“With deep anguish, we announce the demise of our beloved Kalaignar Dr M Karunanidhi on 07.08.2018 at 06.10 pm. Despite the best possible efforts by our team of doctors and nurses to resuscitate him, he failed to respond. We profoundly mourn the loss of one of the tallest leaders of India and we share the grief of family members and fellow Tamilians worldwide,” Chennai’s Kauvery Hospital said in a statement.